Final Grades

Here are the final grades for many of the things that factored into my life while in Las Vegas (in alphabetical order) :

Batman Begins: A
I keep challenging people to name a better straightforward action movie, and thus far no one has given a suitable answer.

Beauty and the Geek: B
One of the better reality TV concepts: stick a bunch of attractive but fairly dumb women into a house with an equal number of male nerds. At first it was pure genius. But the vote-off concept really hurt the show because as people left, the cliquishness disappeared and the chaos diminished.

Bobby Abreu in the Home Run Derby: A
34 swings, 24 homers, and 10 non-homers? That’s possible?

Caliber of the Players at the Palms Final Table I Made: A-
I had no idea at the time, but this final table featured: a) Nick “The Douche” Gibson who made a very deep run at the championship this year before busting out at the ESPN feature table; b) Barbara Enright who also made the money and also busted out at the ESPN feature table (and is the only woman to have ever made the final table at the main event); c) Tommy Vu who has an average stack with 27 players left in the main event as I write this; and d) future legend Thomas “Goodnight Moon” Fuller.

Cinderella Man: B+
I can’t really think of anything to say other than it was a good movie.

Coldplay: B
They made a horrible choice for the first single. But when “Fix You” and “Swallowed in the Sea” are released as singles this will near “Rush of Blood to the Head” levels of success.

Crash: A+
I’ve never seen scenes so intense. Basically the movie Magnolia wanted to be, only successful and half as long.

Gold Coast: A-
The way to do Vegas is to stay in a low-budget, “old man” place like this or San Remo. There is a huge difference in price for the rooms, food, and amenities, while you give up little in terms of quality. The Strip is a ten minute shuttle away, with the Palms and Rio each a five minute walk. The only problem I encountered here was deciding how much to tip on a $1.80 Graveyard Special. $2.00 is a 10% tip but you just can’t tip someone twenty cents, so I guess you have to go with $3.00 and a 70% tip.

Harrah’s: C+
Really everything was fine here, except my room adjacent to the outdoor concert which seemingly went on 24/7.

Hubie Brown: A-
Quite possibly the best basketball color commentary I’ve ever heard. I rewatched Game 5 of the Finals and Brown was almost clairvoyant. Right before Horry’s big shot Brown said that the only thing Detroit should worry about was making sure not to leave a shooter like Horry or Barry open for three. Then when the Pistons got the ball he noted that they should focus on not rushing the shot. Sure enough Hamilton panics and chucks up a horrible shot with two seconds left on the clock. Considering the prominent involvement of Al Michaels and Mike Tirico, Brown’s commentary was even more crucial.

Kingdom of Heaven: C+
This movie had just one character who got more than ten minutes of screen time (Orlando Bloom, horrendous as usual). The love story which was supposed to be a major aspect had no foundation whatsoever. Many of the major plot developments were completely implausible. The battle scenes were stolen directly from better movies of the last ten years. The protagonist – who, again, was the only character who lasted more than a couple scenes – had no personality. The first half of the movie consisted of supporting characters bailing Bloom out and then giving him a memorable honor-related quote he could remember. The second half consisted of Bloom doing nothing yet people inexplicably treating him as a hero as he repeated the quotes from earlier. Then it ended. Despite all this, or maybe even because of it, it was strangely entertaining.

Lindsay Lohan: D-
The parallels to my bankroll are striking: a slow rise to prominence; a sudden breakthrough to greatness; a brief period of incredible success accompanied by an appearance of invincibility; and a sudden, shocking downfall caused primarily by weight loss.

Longest Yard: B
The first scene was atrocious (drunk driving sure is hilarious). I wound up really enjoying the middle, but they made a colossal mistake near the end. I won’t say what it was but you just can’t do that in a comedy.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: C
Great premise, great actors, great director, terrible script, mediocre movie.

My Play: C
I think I was really unlucky the first couple weeks. The second couple weeks I played all the time and I played the best poker of my life. If I had caught a break or two I think I could have made a final table. I can’t remember misplaying many hands at all during this time and I was constantly in the thick of it right before the money both at the WSOP and the Palms. The last couple weeks I didn’t play as much and I got a little bit sloppy. I played okay in the Big One but on all the big hands the cards just played themselves.

My Pre-WSOP Goals:
“Make a final table”: C-
Obviously I wasn’t referring to the Palms. I cashed zero times in twelve events at the WSOP.
“Conduct myself as a professional”: B+
I really took the beats well for a while. I never got upset while sitting at the table no matter how ugly the beat but just calmly forked over the chips. In the downtime I analyzed my play looking for mistakes. Only at the end after some more tough breaks online did I start to lose my cool.
“End the Series as a better player than I am today”: B
This is hard to judge because I learned so much, especially about tournament strategy and tells, but I lost a lot of confidence which might be the most important thing in poker.
“Have the best time of my life”: F
Maybe next year.

NBA Finals: C
It did go seven but five and six were the only decent games and there were few interesting storylines. Seven was the worst-played game I saw all year.

Oasis: B+
They still haven’t disappointed me. Arguably their worst album which means it’s the best thing I’ve heard since the last one.

Palms: A-
I’ve never been in a room at the Palms so I don’t know what the whole experience would be like but overall the casino is one of the best in Vegas, with good low stakes table games, well-run tournaments and cash games in the poker room, a great club in Ghostbar, a movie theatre, and a generally chill vibe all the time.

Poppy Montgomery and Angie Harmon: A
I never watch those criminology shows but I’m thinking of starting.

Rio: D+
Chaos 24/7. The “woodpecker on acid” ordeal. Uncooperative staff. Weak comps for the WSOP. A solid but constantly crowded buffet. Maids barging in despite a privacy sign. A poor television selection…

Stereophonics: C+
If their goal was to get played at the Gap and stadiums before baseball games, then mission accomplished I guess.

The Bag: A-
You played a perfect tournament and gave me the biggest thrill of the whole Series. The minus is because you never came over the top of Juanda. Actually it’s because you don’t like High Fidelity.

TheGraveWolf: D-
Months of hype. Talk of spending a month or more in Vegas. Assurances of constant rail support. In the end your entire WSOP participation consisted of a couple short blog comments. They had a 1k Stud Hi/Lo with $100 satellites, lots of cheap NLHE sats, and the low limit hold em games all around town were very weak. Your loss.

Weezer: C-
I’ve finally lost faith.

White Stripes: C
Not bad, but the Best Band in the World needs to do better to hold onto that title for long.

_________________

Thanks to everyone who read the blog and especially those who posted an entry. Special thanks to the Bag aka Zack Sanders for arranging both the website and the blog.

I loved writing it and hope some of you enjoyed reading it. I could pull a Daniel Negreanu and write about how I got a haircut and played video games, but I don't think anyone wants to read about that. So that should be it for the blog, though it may return someday.

Leaving Las Vegas

It's time to get the hell out of here. I moved my flight up from Saturday to tomorrow. It's time to take a break from poker and focus on more important things...namely frolf and foos.

In a day or two I'll be compiling the final grades for the whole Las Vegas experience.

If I can rebuild the bankroll, I'll be headed to LA at the end of August for the WPT Legends of Poker tournament.

Goodnight Moon

Every poker player has dreams about getting aces against kings, and nightmares about the reverse. The biggest pot I won on day one was that dream, and today less than an hour into play the nightmare happened. I had kings in the big blind after a middle position player raised and the small blind reraised. I stuck it all in for about 36k and the original raiser said "I'm all in" so fast I was certain he had aces. The small blind then thought for five minutes while ESPN cameras circled the scene. Norman Chad even wandered by. Finally the small blind folded AK (a decent player would have folded within the first ten seconds) and the other guy turned over the expected AA. No help and I was down to 5k.

Three hands later I moved all in with the Ace-Ten of clubs and unbelievably the big blind called 4000 more with Queen-Jack offsuit. The flop came AJx, the turn was a queen, the river a queen, and that was the end of my first World Series of Poker.

Can't Say it Better Myself

Twice during the WSOP I have been seated at a table right next to an Englishman named Ross Boatman who is part of the famous "Hendon Mob" group of top English players. A couple other times including last night our tables have been adjacent to each other. I've gotten to know him as well as anyone else out here and you might say that we've become friends.

Anyways, the Hendon Mob keeps a diary on their website and Ross recently posted an entry that sums up a lot of what I've been thinking recently (the key difference being he is good enough to have cashed several times during this WSOP while I am still looking for my first).

Here is the link:

http://www.thehendonmob.com/diary.php?a=r&n=195

Inside Day One

Heading into level four I had about 16k in chips. During level three I never saw a hand better than QT (which of course I had to reraise with) and played few pots. But during level four, with 100-200 blinds with a 25 ante, I suddenly found myself in the heart of the action.

The very first hand I was in the cutoff and the button had not yet reached his seat. With two weak players in the blinds I decided I was raising with any two cards if it was folded to me. And that's exactly what happened - but I actually had two red kings! The weak big blind called, and immediately moved all in on a T high flop. My chips beat his into the pot, his JT did not improve, I became the first executioner at our table, and I was sitting on over 20k.

Then I got myself involved in a big hand with "The Eagle", 9-7 of spades. What happened, with my thoughts in italics:

UTG raises to 1000 and I call in 3rd position. He probably has a big hand here, but a scared hand like JJ or AK. If I can hit a big flop here I could win a humongous pot because he has a big stack as well. Also, I'm in position, so I can see what he does on the flop and maybe bluff him if he doesn't like it.

The flop comes down AcTcTs. He bets 1000. This seems like the kind of player who would bet the flop no matter what. If he has anything but an ace he is going to hate that flop since I very well might have a big ace having called that raise in position. Unless he has a big ace, and I kind of think he doesn't, he will have to fold if I raise here.

I raise to 3000 and he quickly calls. Shit, that didn't work. I'm done with this charade.

The turn is the 6c and he quickly checks. Whoa, wait a minute! What a scare card! Now if I bet big again he has to fold even if he has AK! If I bet big again then I likely have a ten or a flush.

I bet 4500 and he calls. What have I done??? I just blew 8500 on a bluff drawing dead...pathetic. I was cruising along with a big stack and I just threw half of it away and now I am below average...what a mistake. What does this guy have anyways? KcQc? AQ or AK with a club? Four tens? I have no idea. Can I still win this if I hit the miracle 8? Should I bluff if another club comes?

The river is an offsuit queen and he bets 2500 into the pot of about 18,000. Dammit. This guy is using the weak lead on me. He doesn't have that much. Probably just an ace, maybe AQ. He doesn't want to face a big bet here but he wants me to call with AJ or AK. Damn this man! If I was Phil Ivey I would go all in and he would fold and I would scoop a monster with nothing. But I'm not Phil Ivey, and he might have four tens, or a flush, and he might not fold, and I just can't risk my whole tournament on a bluff. When I fold everyone will know I had nothing since I would have to call this bet with anything because of the pot odds.

I folded and I was down to around 12k and feeling horrendous for the first time.

A few hands later I get AK in middle position and everybody folds to me. Obviously I should raise. But I hate raising with AK. It's so obvious. It's so hard to win a big pot because if an ace or king comes your opponents will just fold unless they have you beat, in which case you are going to lose your stack. If I limp no one will think I have AK and it will be very sneaky.

I limp for 200, the guy behind me limps, and the button who is new to the table raises to 1000. This is most likely a bullshit button raise since he thinks we're weak and he has position. I should really reraise this and take it right now. But what if he calls or reraises? I'll be in an awkward situation having to play AK out of position. I'll just call and if I can hit a pair he'll have no idea how strong I am.

I call and the guy behind me folds. The flop is K86 with two clubs. I check and the raiser bets 2000. Whoa, that's a hefty bet. Does he have aces? KK is possible but that bet doesn't look like three kings. He still has no idea how strong I am and he's probably still trying to steal it. I'll call and see what happens on the turn.

I call. The turn is a rag and I check. He bets 3000. Jeez this is getting scary. If I call this I am sort of committing myself to the pot. This could be ugly. But how can I fold this hand? It really doesn't seem like he's bluffing though. I'm really worried he has aces. Then again, he might have hit some weird two pair since he might have started out with two random cards on a complete steal. What the heck my hand is too big to fold.

I call. The river is the 9c. That's an interesting card. That's real good news if he has me beat. He has to think I might have been on a flush draw so if I bet, he can't raise. Perfect time for the weak lead.

I bet 2000 and he quickly calls. Crap. He's got me beat. I'm in deep trouble.

I turn over the AK and he mucks his cards. I'm back!

In retrospect I think I misplayed both these hands pretty badly. Obviously I screwed up bigtime on the first one. On the second I think I should have just checkraised all in on the flop rather than play a huge dangerous pot out of position with just one pair. It's hard to say since I don't know what he had and I might have won less if I had moved in, but I was being extremely risky by check-calling the whole way.

Those two hands show why poker, and especially no limit hold em, and especially deep stack no limit hold em tournament play, is so fascinating. There were a million different ways to play both hands and tough decisions every step of the way. But probably the most important thing to remember is that in the first, I had a bad hand and I lost a big pot. In the second I had a good hand and I won a big pot. The difference between yesterday and the previous few weeks is yesterday I had a lot of good hands. I didn't play any better yesterday than during the previous weeks (in fact I actually think I played kind of poorly). Sooner or later in this tournament I am going to get unlucky and I will have to play my way through it to have any chance at a big result.

Day One Complete

Way too tired to write the full entry promised earlier. Next two days though I have nothing to do so I'm sure I will write an epic.

Again the brief synopsis:

I had 48k after level 5, and 60k after level 6. Level 7 was not so kind. I then came over the top of a raiser with AK for 7k and had to fold when the player behind me went all in for 14k more (KK and AA are the only hands a non-Juanda/non-maniac can do this with and he claimed aces). Three hands later I had AKs in the BB with 8 million limpers for 500. I raise 3k more and get one caller who is fresh to the table. I figure he probably has AQ or maybe a high-middle pair. The flop is rags and I check. God I hate playing hands out of position. He checks. The turn is a Q and I check-fold. He later tells me he had QTs. If I bet that flop I pick up the 10k pot without a confrontation but I was too scared he had a pair and wouldn't fold. So that hurt and shortly after I lost another 5500 with 57s.

They finally turned us loose at about 2:30 AM after starting at 11 AM. An exhausting day but it's just getting started.

My final count for the day is 44,125. Average will be around 30k with blinds at 300-600 and a 75 ante when we all combine on Sunday. I feel very lucky to be in solid chip position considering I really didn't play my best and left a bunch of chips on the table which I could have taken with some more assertiveness. I do remember Moneymaker saying that he made numerous mistakes his first day but played better as the tournament progressed.

I pity those who have to play Saturday night and then come back 9 hours later and never get a rest day. I need one desperately.

Day One Dinner Break

To make a long story short:

I was ice cold at the beginning and was down to 9k after half an hour. I then allowed a superaggressor to try to bluff me off AK after an A high flop to win a big pot and get to 14k. The cards then went fairly cold for three hours but I was able to get up to 16k by making some moves with nothing.

The fourth level was crazy. It seemed like I was in every pot. The first hand of the level I busted a smallish stack with KK and found myself table chip leader at 21k. Shortly after that I blew 8k on a stone bluff and was feeling nauseous. I then "newschooled" AK and won a monster, heartpounding, do-or-die pot to get back above 20k. I'll describe these last two hands later tonight - I think they'll be interesting to read about.

Then the dream scenario: UTG raises and I reraise in 3rd pos with AA. Folds to the button who announces "raise" and sticks in most of his stack. We get it all in and he has KK of the same suits as my AA. Nothing scary ever hits and I have 35k. A few hands later I pick up aces again and raise in late position. The guy behind me calls. I bet a jack high flop and he raises. I put him in for 6k more and he folds.

I have 38,800 right now with three more levels scheduled for tonight. They'll be dropping like flies all night long and hopefully I won't be one of them. I've got the most chips at my table (a very good table by the way) and plan on continuing to build. I'll post a lengthy entry at the end of the night.

Christmas Eve

I haven't been this excited in a long time. The feeling reminds me of Christmas Eve before I was ten, or the night before the Egg Drop finals competition each year at NCAR, or going to Arizona in the summers when I was younger. I feel like a little kid about to open a humongous secret present, except this present costs ten thousand dollars. But it might be worth seven million, and that is why tonight is so exciting.

No matter what happens in the future, and what has happened these past few weeks, I'll always be able to say that I played in the world's biggest poker tournament when I was 22. I'll always remember the feeling I have right now. The analytical part of my brain knows that the chances of making the final table are extremely small, and would be even if I was the best player in the world. But just believing it's possible is so exciting that I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep much tonight, and probably won't feel quite right physically until I have none or all of the ~50 million chips in play.

Signs of Life

Jonas and Leo left this morning after four days of pure Vegasness. I'm too tired and the activities were too numerous/scandalous for me to describe everything but I did get a much needed break from the room and online poker.

We actually wound up playing a lot of low limit poker. I had very poor starting hands in every session (getting them out of my system before Thursday) but played very solid and think I broke about even overall. Leo crushed the Gold Coast $4-$8 all weekend long and by last night he was making claims that he would soon be 4-tabling on Party Poker.

Today I watched the 2003 WSOP on ESPN and then walked to the Orleans at night to see Cinderella Man. Both viewings provided a lot of inspiration with the Big One now less than 36 hours away.

I've won a little more than 4k during my last two sessions online, one over the weekend and one this afternoon. If I had lost during this time my days at the 2k tables would be over, but I now have a chance to...(deleted after I remembered how my published arrogance foreshadowed my demise a week ago). Anyways, I'm not done yet.

Hitting Bottom (I Hope)

Yesterday I lost another 4k playing online. The worst beat came when I had 55 against AK on a KT5 flop. All the money went in on the K turn and the river was another T giving her a pot of more than 3k. Other than that there were a lot of failed bluffs, a few bad calls, and a lot of missed flops.

Jonas arrived soon after and we were soon on our way to the Gambler's Bookshop, but it was closed at 7 PM on a Thursday and we wound up wasting more than 30 bucks on the cabride. Jonas and I then carried four bags of dirty clothes five blocks to the laundromat in 100+ degree weather. I then lost $100 playing blackjack at the Palms. Some of the beats were pretty ridiculous, including one where I had bet four times what I had been betting the whole time, then made the obvious double-down with a 6-4 against the dealer's 5, caught a ten, and then watched the dealer turn over a face card followed by the miracle 6.

Leo reached Vegas after driving from San Francisco and the three of us went over to the Wynn. Jonas played $4-$8 limit while Leo and I managed to get seats at the same table of $1-$2 no limit. Pretty much everyone was playing really tight so I took it upon myself to make up for the others and play every hand. I saw about 75% of flops and won plenty of pots to book a $250 profit which was little consolation to the 12k lost online in 48 hours.

Nick and a few of his friends were driving from Claremont to Boulder and they took a brief pit stop in Vegas. The night ended with Jonas, Leo, and I downing $1.80 Graveyard Specials (a meal not a cocktail) at the Gold Coast, a tradition which will surely be repeated several times over the next few nights.

Today was the 3k NL. I got up to 3800 in no time but then lost a few pots to fall back to 3k. I then got involved in a weird hand with 54 suited in which I lost 2k. Shortly after I had to take a stand with AK and lost to QQ.

Today I find myself in the darkest hole I have been in during the last year as far as poker is concerned. Two months ago I was 100% sure I would be extremely successful as a professional poker player, but today that confidence is wavering.